A group of Maraval residents will learn today the fate of their lawsuit challenging the decision of former planning minister Bhoe Tewarie to grant planning permission to a private school located at Long Circular Road.
High Court judge Mira Dean-Armorer is expected to deliver her judgment in the judicial review brought by Patricia Bryan and Marlene Guy, both of Camp Elysees Road, Maraval at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain at 2.30 pm.
The dispute between the residents and the school began in August 2014 after the school’s management company, EDFAM, announced plans to relocate the school from its previous location in St Clair.
The school began receiving opposition from a group of residents from neighbouring communities who banded together to raise concerns about the impact on the already dire traffic situation in the area during peak hours.
Bryan and Guy are members of the Lower Maraval Residents Association, which also claimed that the school lacked necessary approval from the Diego Martin Regional Corporation, the Town and Country Planning Division and the Ministry of Education.
The corporation took EDFAM to court over the proposed moved but lost its case as the school received permission from Tewarie, while the lawsuit was still pending.
In that case, High Court judge Devindra Rampersad had ruled that the corporation had acted irrationally and unreasonably in rejecting EDFAM’s application for building permission from it.
Rampersad said the approval of the school’s traffic plan was not a requirement for the corporation to grant approval under Section 170 (1) of the Municipal Corporation Act.
The school was eventually opened in September 2015 and has been operating since.
In their lawsuit, the neighbours are contending that Tewarie’s decision in February 2015 to grant permission to EDFAM, which operates the Arbor and Rosewood School was unfair and should be reversed.
They claimed that Tewarie unreasonably ignored the opinion of the Director of Highways, who was against the granting the school permission, and favoured an traffic report commissioned by the schools. They are also claiming that Tewarie failed to consult with them before taking the decision.
Bryan and Guy are being represented by Vivek Lakhan-Joseph, Kiel Tacklalsingh and Rajiv Rickhi.
